The Belle Of 14th Street
Artist
Tim Lewis
United States
Date1967
Dimensions31 x 16 1/2 in. (78.7 x 41.9 cm)
ClassificationsPoster
Credit LinePoster House Permanent Collection
Object numberPH.6619
DescriptionAfter Barbra Streisand’s third CBS special was postponed due to her pregnancy, the director came up with a new, more extravagant theme for what would become The Belle of 14th Street: a three-act televised tribute to turn-of-the-century vaudeville, complete with celebrity guests and period costumes. The “live” audience consisted of employees of the main sponsor, Monsanto’s textile division, who, dressed in full costume, responded to the acts with the stylized manners of the Belle Époque. Tim Lewis created three posters to advertise the production, all in the visual language of Art Nouveau. The largest poster is directly influenced by Alphonse Mucha’s designs for Sarah Bernhardt—originals of which Streisand collected to decorate her home. The purple poster design was also used as the cover for the menu of the cast party at Lüchow’s, a famous German restaurant in the East Village with a history of show-business customers.On View
Not on view
